14 CAGAYAN SULU. [chap. 



Two or three of his wives sat wdth us in the hut and spoke 

 occasionally, for though the people of Cagayan Sulu are ]\Ioham- 

 medans, as is the case throughout the islands of the Indian 

 Archipelago wherever semi -civilisation and the ]\Ialay element 

 prevail, the position of woman is very different to that which 

 she occupies in Turkey. Here, unveiled, and free to go about 

 wherever she pleases, she is a distinct personage in the household. 



We noticed at one end of the room an ingenious contrivance to 

 produce the sam'e effect as a rocking-cradle does upon a European 

 baby. The little basket- woven cot was suspended in the middle of 

 a long bamboo, which rested horizontally two or three feet from 

 the floor, supported at the two ends only. A slight downward pull 

 produced a vertical motion, which, owing to the great elasticity of 

 the bamboo pole, lasted for a considerable time. We afterwards 

 saw a similar method adopted in the Sulu Archipelago. 



On the 31st of March we paid a third visit to the craters in 

 company with the Pangerang. We had heard rumours of the exist- 

 ence of a third lake resembling the other two, and were anxious to 

 investigate the truth of them. But as it w^as said to be in close 

 proximity to the others, we hardly thought that it could be anything 

 of importance. Not only had Admiral Keppel visited the lakes on 

 two occasions, but Captain Chimmo, during the visit of H.M.S. 

 Nassau m 1871, had completed an apparently accurate survey of 

 the island, so there was but little chance of any further discoveries. 

 Skirting the mangrove and pandanus-lined shores, we reached the 

 lakes in heav}^ rain, and forced our way througli the dripping jungle 

 to the eastward, when, to our astonishment, at a distance of a few 

 yards only from the second lake, w^e came upon yet another of an 

 almost exactly similar nature. It was of rather smaller size than 

 the others, being two -fifths instead of three -fifths of a mile in 

 diameter, but the basin was perfectly circular, and filled with water 

 to about the level of the second lake. Thick jungle clothed the 

 precipitous sides, but the latter, instead of running sheer down into 

 the water, left room for a small beach, on which some wild bananas 



